Wabasso, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Wabasso, no two yards are alike.
A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single Wabasso lot. Enter your address and we'll score 1,086 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data around Wabasso — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Wabasso — the short answer
Wabasso, Minnesota: USDA zone 4b, about 177 days between hard freezes, across 544 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 14
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~177
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 544 acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 4b is Wabasso's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Wabasso's 177-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Wabasso
Each reading below is measured for Wabasso itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWabasso runs about 177 days between hard freezes — a moderate growing season.
There is room for the full run of cool-season crops plus a warm-season main crop, but the calendar is tight enough that a late spring or early fall frost still decides how much finishes.
Time warm-season transplants to your last hard freeze, and a few weeks of season extension turns a near-miss harvest into a sure one.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredWabasso sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b.
The zone sets which perennials, shrubs, and fruit trees live through an average winter here — a plant rated for a colder zone is a safe bet, one rated warmer needs winter protection or gets treated as an annual.
Match perennials and fruit to the zone before you buy, so nothing you plant is a gamble against the cold.
USDA PHZM 2023
The kind of country Wabasso is in
Wabasso sits in the Western Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Wabasso's own centroid rather than borrowed from Redwood County.
What Grows in Wabasso
Every plant below cleared Wabasso's own zone 4b and its 177-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Wabasso?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 14 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
What's on the federal record near Wabasso
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Wabasso. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Jenniges Gas & DieselUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- ISD 640Brownfields · 950 ft
- DAVES BODY SHOP - WABASSOBrownfields · 1000 ft
- GOLDEN LIVING CENTER - WABASSOBrownfields · 1100 ft
- District 640 SchoolsUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- JONTI-CRAFT INCToxics Release Inventory · 1400 ft
- KIBBLE EQUIPMENT INC - WABASSOBrownfields · 1500 ft
- PUZZLECRAFT INC JONTICRAFT INCBrownfields · 1600 ft
- CEEC INCBrownfields · 2000 ft
- Johanneck RockwayUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- ITC MIDWEST - WABASSOBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- TODD COLE AND CHAD ALTERMATT FARMCAFO · 1.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Wabasso's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.
Environmental Intelligence
The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near Wabasso.
Total Sites
100
within ~10 miles of Wabasso
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Wabasso
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Wabasso
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Wabasso, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Wabasso — CAFO (8 sites) and Nitrate (36 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Wabasso
Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,086 plant recommendations.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Wabasso average
Your land is one point inside Wabasso
Everything above resolves to Wabasso as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 544 acres. Your parcel is one point inside that footprint. Slope, tree cover, a low spot that pools cold air, and what is in the soil are all resolved at the address, and none of them are visible at city scale. That is the honest boundary of this page, and the reason the next step is a reading of your own ground rather than a better local average.
Your Lot vs the Wabasso Average
Wabasso Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Wabasso
- ●One soil character for all of Wabasso
- ●Frost dates read at Wabasso's scale: Apr 20 to Oct 14
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Wabasso's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Wabasso
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Wabasso, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Wabasso averages can't show:
We read public map data around Wabasso — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Wabasso average
How we know this about Wabasso
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Wabasso’s own record; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.
Common questions about Wabasso
When does frost risk typically end in Wabasso?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Wabasso typically lands around Apr 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — earlier than the light-frost dates most charts quote. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — lighter frosts keep biting past it, which is why tender transplants here wait until about May 11.
When is the first frost in Wabasso?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Wabasso typically arrives around Oct 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 30, so the watching starts about Sep 14 — about 177 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Wabasso?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Wabasso sees about 177 frost-free days — roughly Apr 20 through Oct 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 11 to Sep 30, about 142 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Wabasso?
The federal record around Wabasso is a meaningful one — 100 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (42), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out — so a soil test before new food beds is a sensible precaution here, not a reason to hold back from growing. Remember that proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what sits where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Wabasso?
From about Sep 14 the job here turns from planting to protecting — the last start even a 30-day crop can finish. As the season closes around the first 28°F hard freeze near Oct 14 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before Oct 14. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Wabasso's scale — its 4b band and its 177-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Wabasso's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
What this page reads at Wabasso’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Wabasso's own scale — its own ~177-day season between 28°F freezes, the 544 acres it covers and 100 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Wabasso's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Wabasso's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 20 and Oct 14 and the ~177-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 100 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Wabasso, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Wabasso's boundary and the 544 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~177-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Wabasso's own centroid, the Western Corn Belt PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Wabasso's 544 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Redwood County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Redwood County
- The growing challenges every Minnesota grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Minnesota
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Redwood County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Wabasso's 544 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Wabasso you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 544 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any Wabasso-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaWabasso sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.